Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula said yesterday after meeting with Nepo that the powers would be transferred to the subcommittee on natural gas before eventually being transferred to a regulatory board that will be set up in accordance with energy laws.

Nepo also decided yesterday to draft new energy laws that will oversee the electricity and natural gas industries.

The privileges PTT will lose include ownership of the land on which natural gas pipelines are constructed.

The issue of PTT's privileges was initially raised by nationalists, who have been trying to have the company's state benefits cancelled since it was privatised in 2001. To this end, the Federation of Consumer Organisations has lodged a petition against PTT with the Supreme Administrative Court.

According to Pridiyathorn, Nepo yesterday also concluded that the ban on octane-95 petrol sales should be delayed for at least three months to ensure sufficient supplies of ethanol, a major ingredient of gasohol fuel, are available.

"We need 800,000 litres of ethanol per day but can produce only 660,000 litres. Thus, the Energy Ministry will come up with a new plan in the next three months," he said.

Meanwhile, Sairoong Tongplon, manager of the Federation of Consumer Organisations, said yesterday the federation is prepared to submit a proposal on energy policies to the Energy Ministry.

The proposal will deal with three key issues: state power in the energy sector, large-scale electricity users, and retail consumers.

On the first, Sairoong said the government should remove industry players from regulatory processes and consider public opinion when formulating policy.

Regarding large-scale power users, which number about 5,000, Sairoong said that as their demand for energy was driving the building of more power plants they should shoulder the extra costs, rather than small users.

She said the government should promote community power generation using alternative fuel and a system whereby community power producers could sell their power to the state.

Energy Reporters

The Nation